- Author: Eliot Freutel
Dear California Naturalists and Climate Stewards:
We are pleased to introduce you to the new Volunteer Portal! Over the last year, we've developed a new platform for our naturalists, stewards, and instructors to record, review, and generate reports on their volunteer service. This replaces the UCANR VMS (volunteer management system) and provides new capabilities and will streamline some common processes.
This week, we are transitioning to this new Volunteer Portal and this post provides the information you need to get started in the new system. Here is the link to the new Volunteer Portal. Please use the email address which is associated with your existing VMS profile to ensure that you are matched up with the information we transferred over to the new system.
You should be receiving an invitation via email to create an account for the new portal. If you didn't receive it in your inbox, please be sure to check your spam or junk folders. If you didn't receive the email, here is the link to the new Volunteer Portal (same link as above). This is a multi-phase roll out so we ask for your patience as we add in the hours and information from the previous VMS.
As with any application transition, we may encounter some bugs or errors in the transfer of data. Please know, that we have a team of people working behind the scenes to resolve any issues that arise as quickly as possible. For general questions, please join us for open office hours. We have scheduled office hours (Tuesdays 3:30-4:30 PM; Wednesdays 5:30-6:30 PM; and Fridays 9-10 AM) to answer your questions over the next several weeks (from 2/16 through 3/8). These optional office hours are intended to address general questions and provide general help and information regarding the new Volunteer Portal. Please feel free to drop-in at any time during these hours as your schedule permits.
The link for all these office hours is the same (Join Zoom Meeting: https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/94384448938?pwd=YU9UVHNQVUtrTjZISENLNmwyNGtQZz09; Meeting ID: 943 8444 8938; Passcode: calnat)
We will be producing some simple video tutorials and FAQs on the most basic tasks such as recording hours (or for instructors only, creating a new course and uploading your course participants).
For any pressing issues please reach out to Eliot Freutel (etfreutel@ucanr.edu), please start the subject line with “Volunteer Portal Help” in the subject line. Please hold all general questions for the open office hours.
Sincerely,
The CalNat Program Team
- Author: Sabrina L. Drill
The US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is hosting a series of public engagement workshops in January and February as part of its Fifth National Climate Assessment “to solicit feedback on climate change-related issues that are important to the public.”
Developing the USGCRP was a key component of the Global Change Research Act of 1990. With representation from 13 federal departments and agencies, the USGCRP's mission is to coordinate “a comprehensive and integrated United States research program which will assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change.” Every for years, the Program delivers a National Climate Assessment to congress and the people of the US. From their website, the "NCA is required to a) integrate, evaluate, and interpret the findings of the Program and discuss the scientific uncertainties associated with such findings; b) analyze the effects of global change on the natural environment, agriculture, energy production and use, land and water resources, transportation, human health and welfare, human social systems, and biological diversity; and c) analyze current trends in global change, both human-induced and natural, and project major trends for the subsequent 25 to 100 years."
Work is underway to produce the 5th National Climate Assessment (NCA5).
Thirty public engagement workshops will be held in January and February, beginning January 11th. Workshops are free to attend but registration is required. Each workshop will focus on a different topic or region. Topical sessions are listed below. Go here to see the complete list of Topical and Regional sessions by clicking on NCA5 Engagement Workshops.
February 4 | 10 AM–2:30 PM PT
Southwest (PDF)
January 11 | 12 PM–4 PM ET Human Social Systems (PDF) Register(link is external)
January 11 | 12 PM–4 PM ET
Ecosystems, Ecosystem Services, and Biodiversity (PDF)
January 12 | 12 PM–4 PM ET
Energy Supply, Delivery, and Demand (PDF)
January 18 | 10 AM–2 PM ET
Sector Interactions, Multiple Stressors, and Complex Systems (PDF)
January 18 | 11 AM–3 PM ET
Land Cover and Land-Use Change (PDF)
January 18 | 11 AM–3 PM ET
Air Quality (PDF)
Jan 18 | 12 PM–4 PM ET
Tribal and Indigenous Peoples (PDF)
January 25 | 1 PM–5 PM ETOceans and Marine Resources (PDF)Register(link is external)
January 26 | 12 PM–4 PM ET
Coastal Effects (PDF)
January 28 | 1 PM–5 PM ET
Agriculture, Food Systems, and Rural Communities (PDF)
January 31 | 12 PM–4 PM ET
Economics (PDF)
February 1 | 2 PM –6 PM ET
Transportation (PDF)
February 7 | 11 AM–3:30 PM ET
Adaptation (PDF)
February 7 | 1 PM–5 PM ET
Mitigation (PDF)
February 9 | 10 AM–2 PM ET
Climate Effects on U.S. International Interests (PDF)
February 9 | 12 PM–4 PM ET
Water (PDF)
February 11 | 11:30 AM–3 PM ET
Human Health (PDF)